Multiline offset printing machine

ABSTRACT

Printing apparatus comprising a print station, two or more indicia stations and an ink station arranged along a predetermined path, a feed finger for delivering successive lengths of a ticket strip to the print station and ink and print rolls movable along said path. The ink roll is caused to take ink from the ink pad at the ink station and apply it to the indicia at each of the indicia stations and to be withdrawn from ink transferring relation with the ticket strip at the print station and the print roll is caused to take ink prints from the indicia at each of the indicia stations, apply the composite of the indicia to the ticket strip at the print station and to be withheld from the ink pad at the ink station. Conveyors continuously transverse the ink and print rolls relative to the stations and cams arranged along said path withdraw the ink roll and print roll respectively from the print station and ink station. There is a cutter operable in timed relation with the feed finger to cut the successive ticket lengths following printing.

United States Patent [191 Feb. 4, 1975 Hastings 1 1 MULTlLlNE OFFSET PRINTING MACHINE [75] Inventor: Dana B. Hastings, Natick, Mass.

[73] Assignee: Dennison Manufacturing Company,

Framingham, Mass.

[22] Filed: Apr. 25, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 354,316

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 632,766 9/1899 Stone 101/270 838,340 12/1906 Leroy 226/68 1,146,672 7/1915 Trier 1 ..101/186 1,499,997 7/1924 Ormond 101/252 1,499,998 7/1924 Ormond 101/187 1,814,254 7/1931 Levison 101/383 1,843,255 2/1932 Vandercock ct a1. 1. 107/354 1,947,205 2/1934 Jaeger 1. 83/240 1,999,776 4/1935 Nelson.... 101/383 2,274,595 2/1942 Edwards. 101/110 2,502,806 4/1950 Staude 1 101/252 2,779,590 l/l957 Steastrom 226/65 2,996,001 8/1961 Schlegel et a1 r 101/227 3,122,995 3/1964 Adler et a1 1 101/66 3,167,007 1/1965 Klauss 101/184 3,279,369 10/1966 Wight 3,331,315 7/1967 Henry 101/228 X 12/1968 White 101/68 12/1968 Dudley 101/68 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Gnage, Def. Pub. of Serial No. 882,642, published in 875 O.G. 362, on 6-16-70, Defensive Pub. No. T875,018.

Primary Examiner-.l. Reed Fisher Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Dike, B ronstein, Roberts, Cushman & Pfund [57] ABSTRACT Printing apparatus comprising a print station, two or more indicia stations and an ink station arranged along a predetermined path, a feed finger for delivering successive lengths of a ticket strip to the print sta tion and ink and print rolls movable along said path. The ink roll is caused to take ink from the ink pad at the ink station and apply it to the indicia at each of the indicia stations and to be withdrawn from ink transferring relation with the ticket strip at the print station and the print roll is caused to take ink prints from the indicia at each of the indicia stations, apply the composite of the indicia to the ticket strip at the print station and to be withheld from the ink pad at the ink station. Conveyors continuously transverse the ink and print rolls relative to the stations and cams arranged along said path withdraw the ink roll and print roll respectively from the print station and ink station. There is a cutter operable in timed relation with the feed finger to cut the successive ticket lengths following printing.

21 Claims, 8 Drawing [Figures PATENTEUFEB 41% 3.883567 SHEET 1 [IF 4 MULTILINE OFFSET PRINTING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Multiline printing by means of printing elements such as band set and ring set printing heads, type chases and printing plates is limited by the physical construction of the printing elements to arrangements corresponding SUMMARY Printing apparatus comprising longitudinally spaced indicia mounting stations, indicia at said stations, an instrumentality movable along a predetermined path rel ative to said indicia mounting stations, said instrumentality embodying an element of predetermined area arranged to be presented to each station for receiving from each of said stations a transfer of material corresponding to the indicia at said stations so that the element bears a predetermined composition of material and for thereafter moving the instrumentality to present said element in transferring relation to a part to be printed with said transferrable material. There is a second instrumentality for applying a transferrable material 'to the indicia at said stations. The indicia at said stations are supported adjacent said path and there is means for selectively presenting indicia at certain of the stations into said plane for an application of trans ferrable material thereto. A print station, at which there is a support for an article to be printed and an ink station where there is a pad for containing ink, are supported along said path and there is means for moving the aforesaid instrumentalities which comprise an ink roll and a print roll relative to the ink station and print station to take ink from the ink pad an apply it to the indicia at the indicia stations andto receive ink prints of the indicia at the indicia stations and apply the ink prints to an article on the support at the print station. There is also means situated along said path of travel of the ink and print rolls to withhold the ink roll from engagement with an article at the print station and to withhold the print roll from the ink pad at the ink station. A cleaning station is supported adjacent the path in a position above the ink pad so that the print roll in its retracted position travelling by the ink pad becomes engaged with said cleaning pad and is wiped clean. The indicia at the indicia stations are supported in planes parallel to said path so that the ink roll and print roll have tangential engagement with the indicia and the the movement of the ink roll and print roll along said path. There is means for adjusting the feed finger to provide for registering the ticket strip with the print roll and for adjusting the stroke ofthe feed finger according to the ticket length. A cutter bar is provided for cutting the printed strip into ticket lengths and there is kine' matic mechanism for effecting its operation in timed relation with the reciprocation of the feed finger to effect cutting at the forward movement of the feed finger.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of the printing machine of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of strip material which is to be printed, divided into separable ticket portions of predetermined length;

FIG. 2a diagrammatically illustrates the successive arrangements of the indicia, print and ink stations in relation to the print rolls and ink rolls;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section longitudinally of the machine with parts shown in elevation taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken transversely of the machine taken on theline 4--4 of FIG. 1, showing one of the print rolls at the print station;

FIG. 4a is a fragmentary section, partly in elevation, showing one of the several like supports for the cam bars;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal section with parts shown in elevation taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a view taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

Referring to the drawings (FIG. 2a) the printing machine of this invention comprises, as diagrammaticaly shown herein, a plurality of indicia stations A-A-A, a print station B, an ink station C and optionally a cleaning station D arranged along a'predetermined path and at least one print roll 10 and one ink roll I2 movable along the predetermined path by means, for example, of an endless conveyor 14 relative to the indicia supporting stations, print station, ink station and cleaning station. The aforesaid stations, print and ink rolls and the means for effecting movement of the print and ink rolls relative to said stations are supported on and within a box 16.

The machine is designed especially to print indicia at predetermined positions and in predetermined relation to each other upon strip material 18 (FIG. 2); for example, strips of cardboard, divided into separable tickets lengthwise ofa predetermined size by transverse cut lines 20 and having at intervals corresponding to the distance between cut lines feed slots 22. lt is to be understood that articles other than ticket strips may be printed with the machine by providing appropriate means for delivering the articles to the print station for printing and removing the printed articles from the print station following printing.

Referring specifically to FIG. 3 the indicia stations are spaced along the top of the box 16 and comprise indicia carrying assemblies 28, 30 and 32 mounted in openings 24 in the top. The assembly 28 comprises a plurality of discs, on the peripheral surfaces of which are indicia, mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis parallel to the path of movement to present a single line or column of indicia parallel to the path. The assembly 30 is a chase within which :indicia may be set up in fixed relation both along the path and transversely thereof. The assembly 32 comprises a plurality of bands supported in parallel relation to each other on which there are indicia which are arranged to be traversed along the path so as to present lines or columns of indicia along the path and transverse thereto. The disc and band supported indicia provide for selectively positioning indicia adjacent the path of movement of the ink roll and print roll. The chase is removable to permit replacement with a different arrangement of indicia. At each of the stations A-A-A selected indicia 34, 36 and 38 are supported by the respective assemblies parallel to the path of movement of the print rolls l and the ink rolls l2 and in areas which correspond at least to the width of the rolls times their circumferences. The indicia may be type, rubber plates, changeable characters on bands or rings, embossed plastic plates or any other raised printing surface. Thus the indicia in each of the areas can be located to coincide with any arrangement desired with the indicia in the other areas when combined on the print rolls.

The box 16 is divided at one end, the left, as shown in FIG. 1, into lower and upper sections 40 and 42 between which there is an open end gap 44 within which the print station B is located on a horizontal support 46 (F165. 3 and 4) which extends transversely across the upper side of the lower section 40 from side to side over which the strip 18 is advanced for printing by feed means which will be described hereinafter, the strip,

as shown in FIG. 4, enters the gap 44 between the sections at the left-hand side, crosses the support and leaves through the gap at the right-hand side. The portion of the support 46 directly below the path of the print and ink rolls is parallel to the axis of rotation of these rolls while the portions at either side, respectively, incline upwardly from the infeed side and downwardly toward the discharge side. A cushion block 48 is recessed into the support 46 within the area over which the ticket strip passes.

The ink station C is located beyond the print station in the direction of movement and comprises a receptacle 50 containing an ink pad 52. The receptacle is mounted between the side walls of the box on brackets 54-54 with the surface of the pad parallel to the path of movement of the print rolls and ink rolls. The ink pad may be of any commercially available kind and is removably mounted to enable replacement when it becomes depleted.

Above the ink pad at the cleaning station D there is removably mounted a frame 56 to which there is attached a cleaning pad 58 comprising a sponge rubber backing with an absorbent cloth cover impregnated with mineral oil to decrease wiping friction. Rotation of the print rolls causes rubbing contact with the entire circumferential surface when the pad length-equals the circumference of the rolls. An opening 60 (FIG; 1) provided in the side wall of the box opposite the cleaning pad enables removing and replacing it when necessary.

The conveyor 14 by means of which the print rolls and ink rolls are moved along the aforesaid predetermined path comprises spaced parallel, longitudinally extending link chains 62-62 (FIGS. 3 and 4) entrained at their ends about longitudinally spaced parallel sprockets 64-64 mounted on spaced parallel, horizontally disposed shafts 66-66, the opposite ends of which are supported by hearing members 68--68 supported by the side walls of the box. The shaft 66 at the right-hand end of the machine, as shown in FIG. 3, ex-

tends through the side wall at the left side (FIG. 4) and has mounted on it a sprocket 72 about which is entrained one end of a chain 74, the opposite end of which is entrained about a sprocket 76 fastened to the drive shaft of a motor M, the latter being mounted within the box at the bottom and providing the means for driving the conveyor chains.

There are two print rolls and two ink rolls and these are rotatably mounted at equal distances and alternately, that is, with a print roll between each two ink rolls and conversely an ink roll between each two print rolls on horizontal shafts 80 and 82 fastened, respectively, to the chains 6262 by bracket members 8484 and 86-86 (H6. 4) so that these shafts are carried bodily by the chains along the aforesaid predetermined path relative to the indicia station, print station, ink station and cleaning station.

The print roll 10 is a smooth surfaced cylinder comprised of rubber or like material, at one end of which there is a hub 88. The ink roll 12 is also a smooth surfaced cylinder comprised of a rubber or rubber like material, also provided at one end with a hub 90. Alterna' tively, a Porelon ink roll may be employed in place of a rubber roll. Porelon" is the trademark for an ink saturated roll which may be purchased from S. C. Johnson & Co., Inc, Racine, Wis. [fa Porelon roll is used the ink pad is omitted. The hubs 88 and 90 have, respectively, mounted thereon gears 93 and 94 by means of which the print rolls and ink rolls are adapted to be rotated as they travel along the aforesaid path and rotation is effected by spaced parallel rack bars 96 and 98 connected at their ends by arcuate rack bars 100-100 with which the gears are held engaged and which collectively control the rotation of the gears as they travel along the predetermined path. The rack bars are mounted on the side wall of the box at one side only, the left, as shown in FIG. 4. Along the sides and one end of the box at the inner side and adjacent the top there is a ledge 102 on which there are mounted, one at each side, a shelf 104 which extends along the entire length of the box. The rack bar 96 is fastened to the underside of the shelf 104 at the left side of the box by bolts 105. The rack bar 98 is fastened to a cam bar which, in turn, is fastened at its opposite ends to the end walls of the box as will appear hereinafter. The arcuate rack bars 100-100 are fastened to the ends of the rack bars 96, 98 by bolts 106. The teeth along the upper rack bar 96 and along the arcuate rack bars 100100 are all in the same plane while the teeth along the lower rack bar 98 are stepped to have inner and outer portions 108, adapted to be engaged, respectively, by the gears 93 and 94. The inner portion 108 in the region of the printing station is at a lower level than the outer portion 110 and in the region of the ink pad is at a higher elevation than the outer portion. The sum of all the gear teeth around the track must be an even multiple of the number of teeth on the gears attached to the rolls and the pitch diameters of the roll gears must equal the roll diameters so that any given point on the rolls will always bear the same relationship with the tracks on successive cycles around the tracks.

ln traversing the ink rolls and print rolls the print rolls must be held in a position to have ink transferring rela tion with the indicia carried by the assemblies 28, 30 and 32 at stations A-A-A and to have ink transferring relation to the strip 18 at the print station B but must be withheld from the ink transferring relation with the ink pad at the ink station C whereas the ink roll must have ink transferring relation with the ink pad at the ink station C and with the indicia at the indicia stations A-A-A, but must be withheld from ink transferring relation with the strip at the print station B. To provide for this cam bars 112-112, 114-114 and 116-116 are mounted along the inner sides of the conveyor chains at each side. Cam bars 112-112 are fastened to the respective shelves 104-104 by bolts 118 and have longitudinally extending cam surfaces 120-120 which are parallel to the rack bar 96. The cam bars 114-114 are supported from the side walls of the box by spacer members 122 (FIG. 4a) to which they are attached by bolts 124. The cam bars 114-114 have upper, longitudinally extending cam surfaces 126-126 which parallel the cam surfaces 120-120 and lower longitudinally extending cam surfaces 128-128 which are parallel to the lower rack bar 98 and are transversely stepped as are the rack teeth along the lower rack bar having inner and outer portions 130 and 132. The cam bars 116-116 are fastened at their ends to the box by bolts 134 and have upper longitudinally extending cam surfaces 136-136 which parallel the cam bars 114-114 and are transversely correspondingly stepped to have inner and outer surfaces 138 and 140. The spaced parallel cam surfaces 120, 126, 128 and 136 at each side provide cam tracks 142, 144 along the upper and lower runs of the conveyor chains which are adapted to guide the ink and print rolls as they travel along relative to the several stations so as to have at times ink transferring relation thereto and at other times to be withheld from such ink transferring relation. To this end the shafts 80 and 82 have mounted thereon cam follower elements 146-146 and 148-148 which are arranged to travel along the tracks. The upper cam tracks support the ink and print rolls for engagement with the indicia at the several indicia stations A-A-A. The lower cam tracks as related above are stepped, as shown in FIG. 3, to provide inner and outer tracks with which the cam followers 146, 148 are respectively engaged. The inner track in the region of the print station with which the followers 146-146 are engaged is at the lower level so that the print roll is moved along the lower part at a level to have contact with the ticket at the print station. The outer track in this region with which the followers 148-148 are engaged is at a higher level so that the ink roll when moving along the region of the print station will be held out of engagement with the ticket. Beyond the work station in the region of the work pad the level of the inner and outer tracks reverses so that as the print roll approaches the ink station it will be raised above the ink pad and as the ink roll approaches the ink station it will be lowered into engagement with the ink pad.

At the cleaning station the cleaning pad is supported at a level such that the print roll when travelling above the'ink pad will have contact with its surface. Rotation of the print roll as it travels along in engagement with the cleaning pad will wipe the ink from its surface. The cleaning pad, as shown, is mounted on a frame 56 slidably mounted in an opening 150 provided in the cam bar 114 at the right side of the machine, as shown in FIG. 3, to enable withdrawing it therefrom through the opening 60 in the side of the box for replacement. Alternatively, the cleaning pad may be supported by a vertically reciprocable member for movement from an elevated position to a position for engagement with the print roll as the latter travels by it.

As was previously mentioned a feed finger is provided for intermittently advancing the strip 18 transversely of the print station. The feed finger 152 (FIGS. 4 and 5) is pivotally supported at one end on a spindle 154 fixed to a post 156 at one end of a block 158 and is yieldably held engaged with the upper side of a cutting block 160 at the lower end of an apron 162 extending downwardly from the support 46 through the gap at the right side of the machine by a coiled spring 164 mounted on the spindle with one end fixed thereto and the other engaged with the finger. The block 158 is mounted on spaced parallel rods 166-166 fixed at one end to a bar 168 which is mounted on a pair of spaced parallel screws 170-170 rotatably supported in bosses 172-172 in the side wall of the box at the right side of the machine (FIG. 4). One of the screws has fixed to it a knob 174 and there are sprockets 176-176 on the screws about which is entrained a chain 178 so that rotation of the screw to which the knob is attached will rotate the other screw. Rotation of the screws enables adjusting the feed finger in relation to the print area which provides the means for registering the composition to be printed with preprinted information or perforations on the ticket strip. Reciprocation of the feed finger 152 is provided for by a link 180 connected at one end by a universal coupling 182 to the block 158 and at its other end by a universal coupling 184 to an arm 186 for adjustment along an arcuate slot 188, the center of curvature of which coincides with the center of rotation of the opposite end of the link on the universal coupling 182. Thus the length of the feed stroke can be changed to match the length of various tickets to be printed by moving one end of the feed link 180 to different positions along the arcuate slot 188. The forward position of the feed finger remains constant for any setting of the feed length and this can be made to coincide with the cutter bar for cutting the ticket strip into tickets as will appear hereinafter. The arm 186 is pivotally connected at 190 to a block 192, the latter being fastened by bolts 194 to a slide bar 196 mounted in slots 198-198 in the side walls of the box with one end extending through the slot in the right-hand side wall and connected by a pin 200 to the bar 168 so that the driving linkage for the finger is movable in adjustment therewith. The arm 186 has fixed to its underside a pin 202 which is engaged within a cam groove 204 formed in the peripheral surface of a barrel cam 206 splined to a shaft 208 so as to be movable along the shaft with the adjustment of the feed finger. The shaft 208 is supported in suitable bearings 210 and 212 and extends through the latter bearing to the outer side of the side wall at the left-hand side (FIG. 4) and has fixed to it a sprocket 214. A chain 216 is entrained at one end about the sprocket 214 and at its other end about the sprocket 218 (FIG. 3) which in turn is driven by a sprocket 220, a chain 222 and a sprocket 224 on the shaft 66.

It may be desirable to cut the printed tickets from each other following printing and as they are discharged and so there is provided a cutter bar 226 (FIGS. 4 and 5) which is fixed at one end to a stub shaft 228 rotatably supported on the bar 168. The cutter bar has a cutting edge 230 which is transverse to the direction of movement of the strip and is supported in shearing relation to the lower edge of the cutting block 160 which, as illustrated in H6. 4, is supported at the level of the apron'l62 by the bar 168 and is movable therewith. The cutter bar is fixed to one end of the shaft 228 by a pin 232 and is reciprocated by an arm 234 fixed at one end to the stub shaft 228. The distal end of the arm 234 is connected by a universal coupling 236 to one end of a rod 238. The other end of the rod 238 is connected by a universal coupling 240 and pin 242 to one end of an arm 244. The other end of the arm 244 is pivotally mounted on a stub shaft 246 fixed to the side wall of the box. The arm 244 contains a kidneyshaped slot 248 within which there is engaged a follower 250 mounted on a pin 252 comprising part of an eccentric 254 fixed to the shaft 208. Rotation of the shaft 208 will thus effect reciprocation of the cutter bar in timed relation with the reciprocation of the feed finger to effect cutting at the forward end of the reciprocable movement of the feed finger.

A switch S is provided for starting the operation of the machine and under ordinary circumstances the ticket strip is fed through the machine automatically until the desired number of tickets have been printed. To prevent the machine stopping when it is shut down with the print roll engaged with the strip at the work station which would make it difficult to remove the strip or to feed a new strip into position a cam 256 mounted on the shaft 208 which will hold the control circuit closed following movement of the switch S to the off" position until the switch S in the circuit is opened by engagement of the cam therewith.

By reason of the arrangement of the indicia station in the machine it is possible to set up a variety of compositions of indicia longitudinally and transversely of the ticket so as to place the indicia at any selected position of adjacency and within or around other indicia thus to afford a wide choice of marking for brand names, job lots, numbers and sizes and to add and subtract indicia at times as desired without interrupting the printing operation. Minor adjustments of the indicia assemblies 32 and 28 are provided for by slots and bolts 258, 260, 262 and 264 by means of which these assemblies are attached to the top of the box.

The provision of the upper and lower sections open at the end of the box in the region of the print station facilitates threading the strip into place with the least amount of difficulty. To provide for replacement and inspection of the indicia mounting assemblies at the top of the box and also to enable removing and replacing the ink pad and cleaning pad the top of the box is connected by a hinge 266 at one end so that it may be easily raised.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Printing apparatus comprising a supporting structure embodying a rigid horizontally disposed top part containing a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings, indicia bearing assemblies mounted on'the top part in the openings with the indicia situated in a common plane at the under side of the top part, transversely spaced parallel conveyors supported on the structure below the top part, said conveyors having longitudinally extending upper and lower runs, said upper runs being parallel to said plane of the indicia, a print platen and an ink pad supported on the structure adjacent the lower runs of the conveyors, ink and print rolls journaled at their ends between the conveyors for movement thereby relative to the ink pad. indicia and print platen, means for driving the conveyors to effect translational movement of the ink roll and print roll, means operable by the translational movement of the ink and print rolls to effect rotation about their axes, means for supporting that portion of the runs of the conveyors travelling along the upper runs at any time at a level such that the ink and print rolls have tangential engagement with the indicia, said means providing for lifting the ink roll as it is moved along the lower runs away from the print plate and then depressing it to a position of tangential engagement with the ink pad and for maintaining the print roll at a level to have tangential engagement with the print plate and then lifting it from the ink pad and means for delivering tickets from a strip of ticket material to present one ticket at a time to the print platen in timed relation with the arrival of the print roll at the print platen.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, comprising two or more ink rolls and print rolls arranged alternately.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein there is a cleaning pad located above the lower runs of the conveyors beyond the print platen with which the print roll is brought into tangential engagement when lifted away from the ink pad.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the indicia asemblies are removably mounted in the openings in the top part for ease of replacement with assemblies of different indicia.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the indicia assemblies are adjustable in the openings both Ion gitudinally and transversely with respect to the upper runs of the conveyor.

6; Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the structure has in addition to the top part an intermediate part on which the print platen is mounted adjacent the lower runs of the conveyors and wherein there is an open end gap transversely of the structure providing access to the upper side of the print plate such as to enable delivering the strips of the ticket material to be printed through one side onto the print platen for printing and for removing the printed tickets from the other side.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the top part is hingedly connected at one end for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis to enable lifting the assemblies away from the upper runs of the conveyors for access thereto and to the interior of the structure.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveyors supporting the print roll and ink roll for movement are link chains and there is means for rotating the print roll and ink roll in timed relation as they are moved in translation relative to the indicia to effect a complete turn while in engagement with the indicia.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1, comprising feed means for supplying successive predetermined lengths of strip ticket material to the print platen in a direction transverse to the path of movement of the ink and print rolls, comprising at one side a source from which the strip ticket material is withdrawn and at the other side feed means for drawing the strip ticket material from the source across the print platen.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the print platen has a lateral extension and the feed means comprises a reciprocably mounted feed finger mounted on the extension for reciprocation in a direction lengthwise of the strip and transverse to said path of movement.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10, comprising a link pivotally connected at one end to the feed finger. a reciprocably oscillatable arm, means pivot-ally connecting the other end of the link to said arm for adjustment therealong on an arc having as its center the pivot connecting the one end of the link to the feed finger, and means for effecting oscillation of the arm.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11, comprising a cam for effecting oscillation of said arm.

13. Apparatus according to claim 1], wherein the arm contains an arcuate slot, the center of curvature of which coincides with the axis of the pivot connecting the one end of the link to the feed finger, and means for connecting the other end of the link to the arm for adjustment along said arcuate slot.

14. Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the strip to which print is to be applied is provided with uniformly spaced slots corresponding to the lengths of the strips to be printed with which the feed finger is adapted to be engaged to advance the strip at the print platen, and there is means yieldably holding the feed finger engaged with the strip.

15. Apparatus according to claim 9, comprising a cutter bar supported at the print platen transversely of the direction of discharge of the strip on the support, and means for effecting operation of the cutter bar in timed relation with the reciprocation of the feed finger such as to effect cutting at the termination of the forward stroke in the reciprocal movement ofthe feed finger.

16. Apparatus according to claim 15, comprising means supporting the feed finger and cutter bar for ad- 5 justment longitudinally of the direction of feed.

17. Apparatus according to claim 15, comprising screws mounting the support for the feed finger and cutter bar for adjustment longitudinally of the direction of feed.

18. Apparatus according to claim 15, comprising a shear plate supported at the level of the extension in shearing relation to the cutter.

19. Apparatus according to claim 18, comprising a support mounting the shear plate, cutter bar and feed finger for movement along the direction of feed and means for adjusting said support while maintaining a continuous driving connection to the feed finger and cutter bar.

20. Apparatus according to claim 15, comprising a motor and kinematic means for effecting movement of the ink and print rolls, the feed finger and the cutter bar, a starting switch for initiating operation of the motor, a stop switch for stopping operation of the motor, and means for holding the motor circuit intact following actuation of the stop switch until the print rolls and ink rolls have moved beyond the print station.

21. Apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said means comprises a cam operable in consonance with the reciprocation of the feed finger.

* =i l= l l 

1. Printing apparatus comprising a supporting structure embodying a rigid horizontally disposed top part containing a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings, indicia bearing assemblies mounted on the top part in the openings with the indicia situated in a common plane at the under side of the top part, transversely spaced parallel conveyors supported on the structure below the top part, said conveyors having longitudinally extending upper and lower runs, said upper runs being parallel to said plane of the indicia, a print platen and an ink pad supported on the structure adjacent the lower runs of the conveyors, ink and print rolls journaled at their ends between the conveyors for movement thereby relative to the ink pad, indicia and print platen, means for driving the conveyors to effect translational movement of the ink roll and print roll, means operable by the translational movement of the ink and print rolls to effect rotation about their axes, means for supporting that portion of the runs of the conveyors travelling along the upper runs at any time at a level such that the ink and print rolls have tangential engagement with the indicia, said means providing for lifting the ink roll as it is moved along the lower runs away from the print plate and then depressing it to a position of tangential engagement with the ink pad and for maintaining the print roll at a level to have tAngential engagement with the print plate and then lifting it from the ink pad and means for delivering tickets from a strip of ticket material to present one ticket at a time to the print platen in timed relation with the arrival of the print roll at the print platen.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, comprising two or more ink rolls and print rolls arranged alternately.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein there is a cleaning pad located above the lower runs of the conveyors beyond the print platen with which the print roll is brought into tangential engagement when lifted away from the ink pad.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the indicia asemblies are removably mounted in the openings in the top part for ease of replacement with assemblies of different indicia.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the indicia assemblies are adjustable in the openings both longitudinally and transversely with respect to the upper runs of the conveyor.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the structure has in addition to the top part an intermediate part on which the print platen is mounted adjacent the lower runs of the conveyors and wherein there is an open end gap transversely of the structure providing access to the upper side of the print plate such as to enable delivering the strips of the ticket material to be printed through one side onto the print platen for printing and for removing the printed tickets from the other side.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the top part is hingedly connected at one end for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis to enable lifting the assemblies away from the upper runs of the conveyors for access thereto and to the interior of the structure.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveyors supporting the print roll and ink roll for movement are link chains and there is means for rotating the print roll and ink roll in timed relation as they are moved in translation relative to the indicia to effect a complete turn while in engagement with the indicia.
 9. Apparatus according to claim 1, comprising feed means for supplying successive predetermined lengths of strip ticket material to the print platen in a direction transverse to the path of movement of the ink and print rolls, comprising at one side a source from which the strip ticket material is withdrawn and at the other side feed means for drawing the strip ticket material from the source across the print platen.
 10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the print platen has a lateral extension and the feed means comprises a reciprocably mounted feed finger mounted on the extension for reciprocation in a direction lengthwise of the strip and transverse to said path of movement.
 11. Apparatus according to claim 10, comprising a link pivotally connected at one end to the feed finger, a reciprocably oscillatable arm, means pivotally connecting the other end of the link to said arm for adjustment therealong on an arc having as its center the pivot connecting the one end of the link to the feed finger, and means for effecting oscillation of the arm.
 12. Apparatus according to claim 11, comprising a cam for effecting oscillation of said arm.
 13. Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the arm contains an arcuate slot, the center of curvature of which coincides with the axis of the pivot connecting the one end of the link to the feed finger, and means for connecting the other end of the link to the arm for adjustment along said arcuate slot.
 14. Apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the strip to which print is to be applied is provided with uniformly spaced slots corresponding to the lengths of the strips to be printed with which the feed finger is adapted to be engaged to advance the strip at the print platen, and there is means yieldably holding the feed finger engaged with the strip.
 15. Apparatus according to claim 9, comprising a cutter bar supported at the print platen transversely of the direction of diScharge of the strip on the support, and means for effecting operation of the cutter bar in timed relation with the reciprocation of the feed finger such as to effect cutting at the termination of the forward stroke in the reciprocal movement of the feed finger.
 16. Apparatus according to claim 15, comprising means supporting the feed finger and cutter bar for adjustment longitudinally of the direction of feed.
 17. Apparatus according to claim 15, comprising screws mounting the support for the feed finger and cutter bar for adjustment longitudinally of the direction of feed.
 18. Apparatus according to claim 15, comprising a shear plate supported at the level of the extension in shearing relation to the cutter.
 19. Apparatus according to claim 18, comprising a support mounting the shear plate, cutter bar and feed finger for movement along the direction of feed and means for adjusting said support while maintaining a continuous driving connection to the feed finger and cutter bar.
 20. Apparatus according to claim 15, comprising a motor and kinematic means for effecting movement of the ink and print rolls, the feed finger and the cutter bar, a starting switch for initiating operation of the motor, a stop switch for stopping operation of the motor, and means for holding the motor circuit intact following actuation of the stop switch until the print rolls and ink rolls have moved beyond the print station.
 21. Apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said means comprises a cam operable in consonance with the reciprocation of the feed finger. 